JOYCE.NG@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 9:27pm
UPDATED : Friday, 08 January, 2016, 9:29pm
The Bar Association is far from happy with the Law Society’s education proposal. Photo: Sam Tsang
The Bar Association has expressed “regret” over the Law Society’s decision to run a new qualifying exam for solicitors on its own, urging it to reconsider the move which it said would have “serious implications” for public interest and the interest of the entire legal profession.
Meanwhile, the judiciary said Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li had not given any view to the Law Society on the issue.
READ MORE: Law Society pushes ahead with unified solicitors’ exam from 2021
The sharply worded statement from the professional organisation representing the city’s barristers came two days after the Law Society, which represents solicitors, announced that it would launch a “common entrance examination” for solicitors in 2021. The society said it would set and mark the new exam but has not given details of the format and approach.
The society will drop the requirement for aspiring solicitors to pass the existing PCLL (postgraduate certificate in laws) exam run by the city’s three law schools, which is a common qualification for barristers and solicitors.
“The Bar Association does not subscribe to the view that it is in the interest of the public that the sole right to control admission to the solicitor profession should be vested with the Law Society,” a statement from the Bar reads.
“Potential conflict of interest would inevitably exist between the vested interest of the existing solicitors and those who want to join the profession to share the rights and privilege.”
The Bar also “regretted” that the solicitors pre-empted a government-appointed committee that has been conducting a publicly funded review of the city’s legal education and training. That committee comprises judges, academics and the two legal bodies.
READ MORE: Schools of law hit out at Law Society’s plan to run its own qualifying exam
The one-year full-time PCLL programme trains practical skills including legal research, document drafting and analysis, problem-solving and advocacy. Competition for admission is highly competitive. In 2013-14, 650 students were admitted to the three law schools, an admission rate of 37 per cent.
The Bar says the PCLL will remain the main route for qualification for barristers pending the results of the committee’s review.
It noted the society’s remark that only “certified completion” of the PCLL would be required. If the solicitors only expected students to “sit through all the lessons”, the Bar “has legitimate concerns for its impact on the morale and standard of the PCLL courses”.
Law Society president Stephen Hung Wan-shun, who was out of town this week, told the Post on Thursday that the society would issue a clarification shortly.
“Attending PCLL is still a must. But we do not require the students to pass the universities’ internal exams. We do not wish to add unnecessary pressure on the students if it can be avoided,” Hung said.
The plan has drawn strong reaction from the law schools, especially the University of Hong Kong, which warns that skipping the PCLL exam would hurt legal standards.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-crime/article/1899520/hong-kong-bar-association-slams-law-society-plan-new-exam
